Yesterday 02:05 PM

Por James Grainger

Yesterday 11:00 AM

Por Anna Laffrey

Wednesday 20 February, 2019

Por Anna Laffrey

Lawmakers aligned to former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on Wednesday defended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, labelling incidents in the Caribbean nation as "an attempted coup" against his Bolivarian government.

In a statement, Victory Front (FpV) lawmakers "urge[d] for progress to be made to find a solution based on dialogue and peace, free of violence".

"Any type of foreign intervention on the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people is unacceptable, as is any on any country on the planet. The undue interference only depends the latent problems in our brother nation. Dialogue is the way forward and democracy the only procedure", they added.

Guaidó's decision, they said, "disrespected the free determination of the Venezuelan electorate which has decided time after time in democratic and internationally observed elections".

In a sign of the ideological polarisation that is present across the region, the Mauricio Macri government recognised Guaidó as the country's leader, with the US, OAS and Brazil also expressing their support for the head of the country's outlawed National Assembly.

"I would like to express my support for the decision of the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, recognising him as the president-in-charge of that country," said President Macri via Twitter.

Tensions have been running high in the country since Monday when a group of soldiers took over a command post in the north of the capital and rose up against Maduro, publishing a video calling on people to come out into the streets in support. The mutineers were quickly overpowered by police and the Armed Forces, with 27 people arrested.